Tag Archives: ground turkey

With frigid, below zero temperatures, I wanted to make a warm, hearty soup. I followed this recipe for the most part. For the meatball meat portion, I combined 1 pound of lean, ground turkey and 1/2 pound pork sausage and then froze half of them. I did add some mushrooms that were leftover which added flavor and texture. Next time, I would add more mushrooms and shredded carrots. I would also add the spinach at the very end. Very tasty!!!

Katie: Along with blooming flowers and budding trees, another sign of spring here in Germany is the scent of grilled meat drifting through the streets. As soon as the temperatures begin to rise, many people are eager to fire up their grills, and Flori was no exception. Since our grocery store now carries ground turkey, I decided to try making turkey burgers. Since I liked the flavors of the meatballs I made, I decided to try to find a burger recipe that also included some good add-ins. I found this recipe for Turkey and Vegetable Burgers from the Recipes for Health column of the New York Times. It was just what I was looking for! I made it as written, which included sautéing onions, bell peppers, grated carrots, and garlic and mixing the vegetable mixture with ground turkey and a little ketchup and barbecue sauce. It was a good combination! Even though I didn’t prepare them enough in advance to chill the patties, they still held together on the grill. I roasted the remaining half of the bell pepper to top some of the burgers. It was a good start to this year’s grilling season!

Katie: After my success with Spaghetti Squash Gratin, I bought another spaghetti squash at the farmers market, but had been waiting to use it. I decided to finally make something with it this weekend and wanted to find a hearty recipe that Flori would like. I first saw the combination of meatballs and spaghetti squash on Martha Stewart’s website, but I decided to try this recipe for Turkey Meatballs with Quick and Spicy Tomato Sauce from Ellie Krieger. I made a few adjustments with the meatballs, including adding more bread crumbs, an extra egg white, and some grated sweet potatoes along with the grated carrots. I also made them smaller than the recipe called for (around 25 meatballs) and baked them for 15 minutes at 400 degrees F. Since I didn’t have chipolte peppers, I used a teaspoon of harissa paste to make the sauce spicy.

I prepared the spaghetti squash by poking holes in it with a fork and baking it for 1 hour at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C), cutting it in half, removing the seeds, and then scraping out the squash with a fork.

The spaghetti squash was not quite as flavorful as I had anticipated (maybe because I had waited too long to use it??), but the sauce and meatballs turned out really well. I can’t even remember the last time I ate meatballs, and they aren’t something I would typically think of cooking, but I’m glad I can add them to my cooking repertoire!